1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a text broadcasting receiver which uses television program table data provided by the text broadcaster to simplify the VCR timer recording reservation operation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Text broadcasts which use conventional television frequencies to provide static image data comprising text and graphics have become commercially available in recent years, and television receivers with a built-in text broadcast reception function have been developed and marketed.
A conventional text broadcast receiver is described hereinbelow with reference to the accompanying figures. FIGS. 2a-2b illustrate the text broadcast data transmission procedure, and describe the data transmission sequence in text broadcasting.
Text broadcast data is transmitted in four vertical blanking periods, 14H (277H) through 16H (279H) and 21H (284H), of the conventional television signal. In each 1H of the four blanking periods, the following text broadcast data are multiplexed: the synchronization data; prefix (PFX); data block; and check code. The check code is used for error correction and data block extraction, and the data block which carries the informative data is combined with the data block obtained from another 1H line to form a data group. Each data group comprises the data group header, data header, and data unit. The data group header includes a data group identification code which indicates whether the following the header is program management data, page data, or program index data. The data header shows the program number of the following data unit, and contains a data header parameter which indicates whether the data unit is program management data, page data, continued data, or program index data. The data unit is the collection of data which is actually processed, and is classified by the data unit parameter indicating the data type (e.g., text, melody, photographic).
The construction of a conventional text broadcast receiver is described below.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a conventional text broadcast receiver comprising: a data extraction section 20 for extracting the text broadcast signal multiplexed with vertical blanking periods of the video signal, applying error correction, and extracting the data block; a data group construction section 21 for constructing the data groups from the data blocks extracted by the data extraction section 20; a data identifier section 22 for identifying whether a data group constructed by the data group construction section 21 is program index data or page data, in accordance with the information obtained from a data group identification code, data header parameter, data unit parameter, and program number data; a program index processing section 23 for processing program index data so as to manage the program numbers of the text broadcast programs transmitted on that channel; a decoding section 24 which processes the page header and interprets the text, melody, and photographic data according to the type thereof as identified by the data unit parameter; and a display controller 25 which converts the data interpreted by the decoding section 24 to display data (RGB data) for viewing through the display device.
The operation of the conventional text broadcast receiver described is described above. The first step is extraction of the text broad cast signal multiplexed with the vertical blanking period of the input video signal by the data extraction section 20, followed by error correction and data block extraction. Data groups are then constructed from the extracted data blocks by the data group construction section 21. The data identifier section 22 then determines, using the data group identification code in the data group header and the data header parameter and program number information in the data header, whether the data group is program index data or page data. If the data group is program index data, program number data management processing is applied for the text broadcasts on that channel by the program index processing section 23; if the data group is page data, the decoding section 24 applies interpretative processing to the encoded text, graphic, sound, and other data according to the data type (including text, melody, photographic) identified by the data unit parameter. The interpreted page data is then converted by the display controller 25 to data (RGB data) for display on the display device.
Text broadcasts offering a variety of information services, including news and weather reports, are thus provided by transmitting data according to the transmission procedure thus described for interpretation of the encode text and graphic information according to the transmission procedure by the text broadcast receiver for display of static image data on the television screen.
More recently, however, there have been proposals to further expand text broadcasting services while maintaining compatibility with existing text broadcast standards by expanding the transmission protocol (defining new transmission parameters); one such service makes it easier to set VCR recording reservations by encoding television program table information (including program titles and the date and time of the broadcast) and transmitting this data as the data unit data. Unfortunately, however, conventional text broadcast receivers are not compatible with such expanded transmission standards, and these users are therefore unable to utilize such new services
At the same time, however, the typical procedure followed to set a VCR recording reservation is complicated and hard to understand, making it difficult for novices and many people unaccustomed to video and audio equipment to use the VCR timer recording functions. There is therefore a strong consumer desire for a simplified recording reservation operation.